25 Questions that Vandalize

 What is their body of work?

There's no other way to look at it except to say that Idaho has struggled on the football field.  They had a nice year in 09 when they beat BG in the Humanitarian Bowl (8-5) but that is their only winning season in the last 10.  They also lost their first game to FCS Eastern Washington, albeit a good FCS team.

How many seniors and juniors on the two-deep?

27 which is a pretty good number.  However, by Phil Steele's formula, they are one of the 10 least experienced teams in FBS.

Who are their statistical leaders?

Not too many big statistical leaders which you would expect since they are 2-11 over the past two seasons.  This could be a very good punting game---their punter, Bobby Cowan, was 11th in the nation last season.

What is their turnover ratio?

They were -7 last year and -3 last week.

Offense:

How is their QB Play?

Nooooobody knows.  Their QB is Dominique Blackman who is one of those modern, big-body QBs at 6'5" 254.  He started a Washington, ended up at a junior college and now is at Idaho.  He did not play for unspecified reasons in their opening game, so this will be his D1 debut.

What is their scoring and yards per play?

They were 92nd last year at 20 points per game, something they obviously hope Blackman turns around.  They had 4.5 yards per play last season, which is not good.

Can they run the ball?

You'd think they'd be better at this--they have a major program transfer at RB, but they were 102nd last year and had 3.5 yards per carry.  They averaged 2.6 last week.

Do they pass the ball?

They were 93rd last year in passing efficiency.  Remembering that Akey had a pretty pass happy offense during the H-Bowl, we might think he wants to throw the ball more.  This is an unknown really, until we see what Blackman does.

How is their run/pass balance?

They ran on 48% of their plays last year.  It was 46% last week even with the QB situation.

Do they convert on 3rd Down?

They were 2-15 last week.

Do they score in the red zone?

This, like most of the things on their offense pretty much is an open question.

Do they protect the quarterback?

They were sacked 2 times in 37 attempts last week, with is 5.4%.

Defense:

Topline: Scoring and yards per play.

They allowed 32 PPG game last year and return 7 starters from that team.  They allowed 5.9 yards per play.

Do they defend the run effectively?

They allowed 4.2 yards per carry last year, which is pretty average.  EW had 3.8 yards per carry.

Could they be passed on?

They were 99th in pass efficiency defense last year.  They gave up 64% completions last year with 11.8 yards per reception, which is not a good combination.  EW did not hit a high percentage but they did end up with 240 passing yards on only 12 completions.

Do they get off the field on 3rd down?

They allowed E-Was to go 7 of 15 last week.

Do they defend in the red zone?

They gave up 4 RZ possessions (about normal) and all of them scored, 2 FG and 2 TD last week.

Do they pressure the QB?

No sacks last week on 30 passing attempts.

Special Teams:

Punting?

As mentioned, Cowan is a top flight punter.  He punted 9 times last week for only 36 yards per kick.

Punt Return?

They didn't have a return last week.  However, Justin Veltung is expected to do their returns and he is among their best players (starts at WR).

Placekicking?

Not to go black humor on you, but even in losing to E. Washington they were able to do something BG couldn't, which was make a FG, a 27 yarder.  He's a good kicker who hit a 55 yarder last year.

Kickoff?

Both of his kickoffs were touchbacks last week.

Kickoff Return?

We really don't have any idea because ALL 5 of E. Washington's kickoffs were touchbacks.  They use their top RB on kickoff returns, so you'd have to think he'd be decent.

Miscellaneous: Overall atmospherics and intangibles.

On paper, obviously, this doesn't look too good for Idaho.  They are a struggling program who had a tough loss last week.  Also, it is sounding like a big crowd at the Doyt Saturday and our guys should be feeling confident after last week's effort.  BG won the game last year handily.  Things to worry about are a QB we have never seen and a team that might want to prove that they are not as bad as they were last week and last year.  They have nothing to lose out there Saturday and might come in to have something to prove.

The Blackman thing makes me pretty nervous.  Having said that, I'm hoping to see the Falcons flex their muscles a little on Saturday with a nice home win to get people coming back.